Umbrella runner assembly



y 1967 w. s. EVANS, JR 3,318,319

UMBRELLA RUNNER ASSEMBLY Filed May 28, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIGB.

mvzmon: WAYNE S. EVAN$,JR.

AITYS.

y 9, 1967 w. s. EVANS, JR 3,318,319

UMBRELLA RUNNER AS SEMBLY Filed May 28, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIGS. FIG.6.

INVENTOR'.

WAYNE S. EVANS, JR.

ATTYS.

United States Patent 3,318,319 UMBRELLA RUNNER ASSEMBLY Wayne S. Evans, Jr., Huntingdon Valley, Pa., assignor to S. W. Evans & Sons, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed May 28, 1965, Ser. No. 459,804 6 Claims. (Cl. 135-43) The present invention relates generally to umbrella runner assemblies of the type characterized by a cylindrically coiled torsion locking spring overlying the umbrella shaft and more particularly to a novel arrangement in such an assembly for automatically locking the torsion spring in the open umbrella position when the runner reaches its upper limit at the top of the shaft.

An umbrella runner assembly of the present torsion spring type is shown and described in the copending application Serial No. 369,922, filed May 25, 1964, now Patent No. 3,258,021, and assigned with the present invention to a common assignee. The various advantages of a torsion spring type runner assembly are set forth in the copending application and included thereamong is the ease of operation characteristic of this type of runner. The runner is released from the shaft by twisting in one direction, slid along the shaft with the runner held in the twisted position, and released to lock the torsion spring on the shaft when the runner has been advanced to the desired position. Although the spring torsion will automatically lock the runner upon release, when the umbrella is fully opened there is a substantial downward force exerted on the runner assembly by the stretches, and there is apt to be a short but abrupt downward movement of the assembly upon release before the locking effect of the spring takes place. To avert this effect, the runner assembly heretofore had to be twisted manually into the locked position. The present invention provides an arrangement which automatically locks the torsion spring in place when the umbrella reaches the fully opened position without requiring a twisting of the runner.

In view of the above, it is a primary object of the invention to provide a novel umbrella runner assembly of the torsion spring type wherein the locking of the assembly at the upper limit of travel on the shaft is automatically effected upon opening of the umbrella.

Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be more readily apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments thereof when taken together with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevational view of an umbrella partly cut away to show a runner assembly in accordance with the present invention in a position midway along the umbrella shaft in a twisted disposition as is necessary to permit movement along the shaft;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. -1 showing the interior details of the runner assemy;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 33 of FIG. 2 showing the runner assembly details in longitudinal section;

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 showing the runner assembly as it appears following contact with the stop pin at the upper limit of travel prior to release of the runner body;

FIG. 5 is a view similar to the View of FIG. 3 showing a modified runner assembly embodiment as it appears during movement along the umbrella shaft; and

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of the modified embodiment of FIG. 5 as it appears following contact Patented May 9, 1967 with the stop pin at the upper limit of runner travel prior to release of the runner body.

Referring to FIG. 1, an umbrella 10 is shown having a runner assembly 12 in accordance with the present invention. The umbrella 10 is, in other respects, of customary construction including a shaft 14 having a handle I16 at the lower end thereof and a decorative and protective tip 18 at its upper extremity. Adjacent the tip 18 is the notch 20 from which pivotally extend ribs 22 supporting the fabric 24. The ribs 22 are actuated by the stretchers 26, the lower ends of which are pivotally attached to the runner head 28 of the runner assembly 12 by a securing ring 30 coacting with annular groove 32 as shown in FIG. 3.

The runner assembly 12 is comprised essentially of four components, the runner head 28, the runner body 34, the inner sleeve 36 and the spring 38. The runner head 28 includes a plurality of spaced lugs 40 to which are attached the stretchers 26 by means of the securing ring 30 and the groove 32 as described above. The runner head extends downwardly in a thin tubular central portion 42 to a lower flange portion 44 having outwardly opening slots 46 therein spaced at intervals.

Slidably disposed within the runner head 28 is the thin walled cylindrical sleeve portion 48 of the inner sleeve 36, the sleeve portion 48 extending to an upper end 50 above the upper end of the runner head 28. The inner sleeve 36 and runner head 28 are slidable along the shaft and slidable with respect to each other with the inner sleeve 36 being in addition rotatable on the shaft with respect to the runner head 28. The runner head is, of course, not rotatable with respect to the shaft due to the attachment thereof to the stretchers 26.

The lower end of the inner sleeve 36 is characterized by an annular axially extending shoulder 52 from which downwardly depends the concentric annular spring housing ring 54. Pins 56 in the shoulder 52 extend upwardly into two of the U-shaped slots 46 of the runner head 28 in the normal position of the runner assembly thereby preventing rotation of the inner sleeve with respect to the runner head.

The hollow runner body 34 is adapted to enclose the lower portions of the runner head and inner sleeve by means of an appropriately stepped chamber 57 at the upper end thereof and is axially secured in position with respect to the runner head by means of the lock ring 58 seated within the annular groove 60 and the shoulder 61. The lower end of the chamber 57 comprises a lower spring chamber 62 within which is seated the lower portion of the spring 38 with the lower spring leg 64 extending into the vertical bore 66 in the runner body. The spring 38 extends upwardly into the upper spring chamber 68 formed by the ring 54 of the inner sleeve 36 with the upper spring leg 70 extending into the vertical bore 72 of the inner sleeve. The chamber 57 is arranged to permit downward movement of the inner sleeve 36 from its normal position with the upper surface of shoulder 52 abutting the flange 44 of the runner head as shown in FIG. 3, to a lower position wherein the lower surface of the shoulder 52 abuts the shoulder 74 of the runner body as shown in FIG. 4. In this lower position it will be apparent that the pins 56 clear the flange 44 thereby permitting rotation of the inner sleeve with respect to the runner head.

A pin 76 inwardly projecting from the runner body is adapted to connect with a slot 78 in the shoulder 52 of the inner sleeve to limit the permissible rotation of the runner body with respect to the inner sleeve when the sleeve is in either the upper or lower position. The circumferential groove 78 extends approximately 120 around the periphery of the shoulder portion 52 which is somewhat more of a rotational angle than that required to free the spring 38 from its locked position on the shaft 14. The spring 38 is both a torsion and a compression spring so that in its relaxed condition it tightly engages the shaft to lock the assembly in place and in addition extends axially to urge the inner sleeve against the zlnner head to engage the pins 56 with two of the slots The operation of the invention may be understood by a consideration of the relationships of the spring 38 and nner sleeve 36, first considered in the disposition shown in FIG. 3 wherein the runner assembly is being moved along the umbrella shaft 14, and secondly in the dispositron of FIG. 4 just after the runner assembly has reached its upper limit on the shaft. Considering the assembly as it appears in FIG. 3, it is apparent from the position of the pin 76 in the slot 78 as shown in FIG. 2 that the runner body 34 is twisted against the torsion pressure of the spring in a clockwise direction to free the spring from its normal grip on the shaft and permit movement of the assembly along the shaft. The upper spring leg 70 is anchored against rotation within the inner sleeve 36 which, due to the axial compression force of the spring, is urged upwardly against the runner head 28 with the pins 5fi extending into slots 46 of the runner head thereby preventing rotation of the inner sleeve.

When the runner assembly has been extended along the umbrella shaft such that the umbrella reaches the fully opened position, the runner assembly makes contact with the stop pin 80 extending from the shaft in the manner shown in FIG. .4. The stop pin 80 is struck by the upper end 50 of the inner sleeve 36 and the upward thrust of the runner assembly acts to compress the spring 38 between the inner sleeve and the runner body to such a degree as to permit the pins 56 of the inner sleeve to drop below the runner head 28 thus freeing the inner sleeve for rotation responsive to the twisted torsion spring. The sleeve will thus rotate in a clockwise direction upon freemg of the pins 56 from the runner head and the spring 38, being torsionally relaxed, will grip the umbrella shaftto secure the runner assembly in the open position 'without requiring a twisting or release of the runner body. In the view of FIG. 4, the runner body has not been released and, upon release, will drop downwardly a very small distance under the combined downward force of the stretchers'26' and the axially compressed spring 38 until the pins 56 make contact with the bottom of the runner head. The pins 56 are not likely to reengage two of the slots 46 of the runner headupon release of the runner body but, upon subsequent twisting of the runner body to release the spring, the pins 56 will enter the next available slots, locking the inner sleeve against further rotation.

The embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 6 is identi-' cal with the preferred embodiment described above in all respects except for the employment of a separate spring 82 to provide the compression force necessary to urge the inner sleeve 36a against the runner head 28a. The spring 38a which torsionally engages the shaft thus serves only the torsion locking function.

In order to accommodate the second spring 82, the

chamber 57a of the runner body 34a is appropriately en-' larged to receive the second spring exteriorly adjacent the annular spring housing ring 54, the spring 82 being seated on the shoulder 84 of the runner body and the lower surface of the shoulder 52a of the inner sleeve 36a.

The operation of the modified embodiment is the same as that described above, with the spring 82 effecting the urging of the inner sleeve against the runner head while the spring 38a functions solely to lock the runner assembly to the shaft.

Manifestly, changes in details of construction can be effected by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in and limited solely by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An umbrella runner assembly having self-contained locking means for securing the assembly to an umbrella shaft and adapted to automatically lock the assembly upon contact with a limit stop on the shaft, said assembly comprising a cylindrically coiled spring in overlying engagement with the shaft for locking said assembly to the shaft, said spring in its relaxed condition having an internal diameter smaller than the diameter of the shaft means for expanding said spring to adjust the position of said assembly on the shaft, and means responsive to contact with a limit stop on the shaft for releasing the spring from the expanded condition to automatically lock the assembly to the shaft.

2. An umbrella runner assembly having self-contained locking means for securing the assembly to an umbrella shaft and adapted to automatically lock the assembly upon contact with a limit stop on the shaft, said assembly comprising a runner body rotatably and slidably mounted on the shaft, a cylindrically coiled spring overlying the shaft for locking the assembly to the shaft, a sleeve slidably mounted on the shaft, a first end of said spring being secured to said sleeve, the opposed end of said spring being secured to said runner body, and means permitting rotation of said sleeve only upon contact with a limit stop on said shaft, whereby rotation of said runner body provides an expansion of said spring permitting positioning of the assembly on the shaft, the contact of said sleeve with a limit stop on the shaft permitting rotation of the sleeve and releasing the expanded spring to automatically lock the assembly to the shaft.

3. An umbrella runner assembly having self-contained locking means for securing the assembly to an umbrella shaft and adapted to automatically lock the assembly upon contact with a limit stop on the shaft, said assembly comprising a runner head adapted for sliding passage along the shaft, a runner body rotatably and slidably mounted on the shaft connected with said runner head and rotatable with respect thereto, a cylindrically coiled spring overlying the shaft for locking the assembly to the shaft, an inner sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted on the shaft, a first end of said spring being secured to said inner sleeve, the opposed end of said spring being secured to said runner body, and means associated with said runner head permitting rotation of said inner sleeve only upon contact thereof with a limit stop on said shaft, whereby rotation of said runner body provides an expansion of said spring permitting positioning of the assembly on the shaft, the contact of said inner sleeve with a limit stop on the shaft permitting rotation of the sleeve and releasing the expanded spring to automatically lock the assembly to the shaft.

4. An umbrella runner assembly having self-contained locking means for securing the assembly to an umbrella shaft and adapted to automatically lock the assembly upon contact with a limit stop on the shaft, said assembly comprising a runner head adapted for sliding passage along the shaft, a runner body rotatably and slidably mounted on the shaft connected with said runner head and rotatable with respect thereto, said runner body having an annular chamber therein, a cylindrically coiled spring within said runner body chamber overlying the shaft for locking the assembly to the shaft, an inner sleeve slidably and rotatably mounted on the shaft within said runner head extending into said runner body chamber, an axially extending shoulder on said inner sleeve within said runner body chamber adjacent the inner end of said runner head, a first end coil of said spring being secured to said inner sleeve, the opposed end coil of said spring being secured to said runner body, an axially engageable pin and slot means on adjacent radial surfaces of the runner head and inner sleeve shoulder for preventing rotation of said inner sleeve during engagement thereof,

spring means urging said inner sleeve shoulder axially into engagement with said runner head to engage said pin and slot means thereby preventing rotation of said inner sleeve, whereby rotation of said runner provides 6 6. The umbrella runner assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein said spring means for urging said inner sleeve shoulder into engagement with said runner head comprises a cylindrical compression spring overlying and an expansion of said spring permitting positioning of 5 spaced from said cylindrically coiled spring.

the assembly on the shaft, the contact of said inner sleeve extending from said runner head With a limit stop on the shaft disengaging said pin and slot means permitting rotation of the sleeve and releasing the expanded spring to automatically lock the assembly to the shaft.

5. The umbrella runner assembly as claimed in claim 4 wherein said spring means for urging said inner sleeve shoulder into engagement with said runner head comprises said cylindrically coiled spring.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,567,284 9/1951 Hacken et al. 135-41 X HARRISON R. MOSELEY, Primary Examiner.

P. M. CAUN, Assistant Examiner. 

1. AN UMBRELLA RUNNER ASSEMBLY HAVING SELF-CONTAINED LOCKING MEANS FOR SECURING THE ASSEMBLY TO AN UMBRELLA SHAFT AND ADAPTED TO AUTOMATICALLY LOCK THE ASSEMBLY UPON CONTACT WITH A LIMIT STOP ON THE SHAFT, SAID ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A CYLINDRICALLY COILED SPRING IN OVERLYING ENGAGEMENT WITH THE SHAFT FOR LOCKING SAID ASSEMBLY TO THE SHAFT, SAID SPRING IN ITS RELAXED CONDITION HAVING AN INTERNAL DIAMETER SMALLER THAN THE DIAMETER OF THE SHAFT MEANS FOR EXPANDING SAID SPRING TO ADJUST THE POSITION OF SAID ASSEMBLY ON THE SHAFT, AND MEANS RESPONSIVE TO CONTACT WITH A LIMIT STOP ON THE SHAFT FOR RELEASING THE SPRING FROM THE EXPANDED CONDITION TO AUTOMATICALLY LOCK THE ASSEMBLY TO THE SHAFT. 